kinuta

There are still a lot of good record shops here with a pretty stellar selection available. The small mom and pop shops in the suburbs have all but vanished though. On my occasional trips back to UK I'm quite stunned at the dismal selection of cds, and find it hardly surprising that purchasing on line is taking over there.

BBC Red Riding trilogy.

Castle, popcorn junk but entertaining.

I watched "Letters From Iwo Jima" last night — "Flag" is on order. I just watched "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," Sidney Lumet's last film (2007). As you watch it, you wonder what will happen. After you've watched it, you wonder what did happen. An interesting story with effective, fractured chronology, but it all comes together. Still want to know what happened to the Ethan Hawke character. All three of those films are excellent . The Lumet came out of nowhere, he'd had a string of undistinguished films prior to that, and hadn't made anything especially memorable since The Verdict (1982). Maybe he's been down to the crossroads. Clint has made one great film after another over the last few years. I admire the way he made Iwo Jima, basically letting the cast do their thing without any Hollywood tinkering. The result is dead on authentic without a single mistep into cliche. Check out Gran Torino next, I think you'll enjoy it.

BBC Little Dorrit, episode one. Looks great up to now. The last adaptation, Oliver Twist, was a let down but Little Dorrit might just match the superb production of Bleak House. I can't wait to get stuck in. It also features the great character actress Judy Parfitt in a central role.

Sorry to hear of your connection woes, hope things improve asap. I'm one of the lucky ones, enjoying 100mbps fibre optic connection, courtesy of NTT (Nippon Telegraph & Telephone).

The poor woman. It's really a horrible tragedy which shows us again how fragile our life is. Personally it further ingrains my long standing fear and loathing of all kinds of high speed sporting activities. I feel unsettled just watching people skiing.

She thinks I'm odd but prefers it to my chasing other women !

Spectacular photos.

Roy Eldridge Complete Verve disc 2 Duke Ellington - The Cosmic Scene Both knockout.

I've gone back to real cds or FLAC cdrs on my Panasonic discman with real Sony headphones. Cumbersome, bothersome but oh boy the sound beats MP3 by a light year.

24 Jack & The Prez in the panic room, evildoers take the White House, seems to be picking up finally.

24 It's almost as bad as CSI Miami, at least Horatio is unintentionally funny.

Lost This is the best season. At one point I'd almost given up on Lost but hung in just to see where it would go. We are now in some serious SF territory. Rewatching Crime Story S1. It's incredible how many guys got their first break on this show. I only recently twigged that Ray Luca is one of Brenda's crew on The Closer.

The Closer - Brenda finally gets hitched.

Indeed. The Hugh Jackman -Beyonce musical collage thing was a really sorry mess.

Definitely try a Pioneer DV-410 V with HDMI and front USB port, DIVX compatible with great pic quality and sound. I use it as a cd player sometimes. The US model is also region free, I think. Anyhow it's without doubt the best of the six players we've had.

Great, we need some good news !

Many happy returns Vic.

Ameyokocho market in Ueno, downtown Tokyo. The tacky looking place is deceptive, the food is great.

More likely to be a kidney problem, which is one of the leading causes of death in older cats.

I use Taiyo Yuden or BenQ. I've never had a dud. For dvd-r I only use Taiyo Yuden.

Is this an example of how the corner shopkeeper 'locks up' for the evening? ...or just an effort to provide shade? Good question. Places like this are fast vanishing to be replaced by ferro-concrete blobs with zero personality. The blinds are for shade but the absence of any kind of security reflects a bygone age when neighbourhood break ins were a rarity.

My greengrocer, taken early this morning.

Half a dozen pics taken around Tokyo.